Porta Ratumenna

Gate in the *Servian Wall on the *Capitol. The Porta Ratumenna is mentioned only in an anecdote from the early history of Rome, in which the victorious charioteer from Veii, Ratumenna, lost control of his horses, and was taken all the way from Veii to Rome at full speed, only to be thrown from his chariot at the gate which then took its name from him (Paulus, in Festus 341: porta Ratumenna; Plut., Publ. 13.4). In Plutarch, Ratumenna is thrown from his chariot as soon as his horses reached the Capitol (Plut., Publ. 13.4); this suggests that the gate stood at the foot of this hill. Other versions of this story draw a strong connection with the Temple of *Iuppiter Optimus Maximus; the horses proceeded to the Area Capitolina (without Ratumenna) to admire the terracotta chariots on the roof of the Temple of Iuppiter Optimus Maximus (Festus 342; cf. Plut., Publ. 13.1-3), or else the horses processed around the temple three times in a lustration (Solin. 45.15; cf. Pliny, NH 8.161). There is general scholarly consensus that this gate stood on or around the Capitol (Platner–Ashby; Säflund; Lanciani, FUR pl. 22). Coarelli hypothesizes that ‘Porta Ratumenna’ was the original, Etruscan name of the *Porta Carmentalis (Coarelli, LTUR; id. 1995; id. 1988). Richardson is especially persuasive. He observes that a team of horses could only have accessed the Area Capitolina via the *Clivus Capitolinus, or by the road which led up the saddle between the two summits of the Capitol from the *Campus Martius (*Iter [inter lucos]). The latter is the more sensible choice, since the direct route from Veii brought Ratumenna to Rome along the *Via Flaminia. Richardson thus identifies the Porta Ratumenna as a gate in the Servian Wall which stood at the top of Michelangelo’s Cordonnata. Our map follows Richardson’s placement of the gate.